Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

It seems that I have some oil leaking out of the right wheel. It might be a wheel bearing or something, I'm not sure. I did check the oil level and it's ok. The other thing is I am noticing that with even less snow it seems to be down on power running the engine at full rpm's and 1st gear it just seems to have a lot less power eating into even 6 inches of even mild snow. It was not doing this during the last storm and this storm was only 6 inches. I'm wondering if something might be wrong with the friction disc?

Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated.

1 >>>The other thing is I am noticing that with even less snow it seems to be down on power running the engine at full rpm's

 

What are you experiencing to think less power?  Less toss distance or is the engine sagging under load more than it did last storm? 

 

 

2 >>>1st gear it just seems to have a lot less power eating into even 6 inches of even mild snow.

 

Is the machine making less progress without wheel slip?   If so then possibly it’s the friction disk slipping. 

If you can drive into a tough bank in first and the wheels slip instead of stop then the friction disk should be ok. 

 

3 >>> For the oil or grease it might just be grease or oil from the axle.  Is there a lot?  Oil, or grease?  Is it from the outside of the hub or traveling along the inside hub? 

 

4 >>>There might be something in the drive loading the engine.  You could open up the tractor section for a look.  Check the friction disk and components when spinning the wheels with the clutch engaged and not engaged.   With the clutch engaged you should not be able to spin the wheels.

Steve,

Did you check your auger gear box oil level? 

Don't know for sure but I doubt that the wheels have wheel bearings.  I know my Simplicity just has a simple bushing.  The wheels lock to the axle.  No need for wheel bearings.  What you're seeing is probably residual oil/grease/debris from wear being washed out by melting snow from hours of work.  Pull your wheels and grease the axle with some good marine/snowmobile grease.   Try adjusting your auger drive belt to get your throwing distance back.   

@Steve,

I hope this is not one of your scheme to trick the snow gods into bringing more snow. 

aa335 wrote:
Lets hope so.  I had a great time with my 8.9" of wet heavy stuff on Friday with a couple 2 foot drifts and can't wait for more!

borat wrote:
I believe that it has bushings.  Probably the auger drive setting went out of whack or the belt stretched.  If the belt is frayed then something is out of whack...likely a misaligned idler pulley.

trouts2 wrote:

I am feeling less power when it is under load and by load I mean like 6 iches of moderate snow nothing really heavy. It still seems to throw it as far but works really hard to throw it.

The thing is I picked up a Christmas wreath and must have used the blower for a good 20 minutes with the wire and branches wrapped around the auger. It was throwing less snow and after a while I checked and pulled the huge mess out of the auger. No snapped shear pins tho.

I can't tell if it's making less progress since the EOD was very nasty slush and teh treads were full of caked in slush and the wheels were slipping a bit, much worse than normally and it wasnted to pull to the left or right much more than normal.

There isn't a lot of oil but it looks like it's still sort of coming out asI wiped it off and more dirtied up the snow around the wheel. Looks more like grease than oil.

I'm really not sure how to check the whole thing out or how to open it up. For certain something is going on tho. Maybe that wire and branches damaged it?

Does the engine sound any different?

Maybe the wires and wreath managed to bend the impeller fan or something.

Have you tried to freehand spin the impeller by hand?  Maybe it has some ice or some wire wrapped around and jamming it causing a lot of extra load.

Maybe the slush just got on the belt and it is now slipping.

>>>I am feeling less power when it is under load and by load I mean like 6 iches of moderate snow nothing really heavy. It still seems to throw it as far but works really hard to throw it.

  

   That seems like something in the front end might be pinched or out of wack to cause the engine to work harder to toss.  Are you sure you got all the wire out?  Sometimes crap gets in by the auger ends and binds.

 

 

>>>The thing is I picked up a Christmas wreath and must have used the blower for a good 20 minutes with the wire and branches wrapped around the auger.

 

   The wreath pickup could have caused some belt stress or wear.  That might cause a loss of performance but would not make the engine work harder – it would be slipping and work less hard.

 

>>>I can't tell if it's making less progress since the EOD was very nasty slush and teh treads were full of caked in slush and the wheels were slipping a bit, much worse than normally

 

   You can tell if it’s going forward or not in EOD.  If you can’t make progress look at the wheels to see if they are slipping or stationary when you can’t do forward. 

    You mentioned some wheel slip which is good as that indicates the friction disk is not slipping.  Drive into a bank and see what it does.

 

>>>and it wasnted to pull to the left or right much more than normal.

In wet sloppy conditions the skids can catch more versus glide more on like a cold snow layer.  If you’re on a very flat surface it should not pull.  When the skids are exposed to driveway and it’s uneven it can pull.  You can check to see of the skids are still set right by looking at the height of each skid when in the garage.

 

>>>There isn't a lot of oil but it looks like it's still sort of coming out asI wiped it off and more dirtied up the snow around the wheel. Looks more like grease than oil.

   You can pull the wheel as Borat mentioned and take a look at the axle.  You want to make sure it’s water/rust/grease from the axle and not a leak carried from the tractor section along the hub to the outside of the hub.   If more was running out after a wipe it’s probably not grease.  Possibly just water and rust discolored with oil or grease.

 

>>I'm really not sure how to check the whole thing out or how to open it up. For certain something is going on tho.

   The issues:

1.      Poor tossing, has to work harder.

2.      Pulling

3.      Wheel slip or not

4.      Oil/grease/rust drip at the hub.

 

1.      It’s your machine and if you’re sure it’s under performing and bogging down then it should looked at.  If you can’t do that then you should probably take it in to get checked out.  Are you sure all the wire was gotten out?   There may be some wedges in by the auger ends which can bog the auger down.

2.      You can checkout the skid setting.

3.      You can check slip by looking at the wheels while driving into a very difficult load.

4.      Pull the wheel and take of the bottom panel.  The bottom panel is 4-6 screws and easy to do.  You can then look in there and poke around.  If you can’t do that then you should probably take it in given #1 also.

I will be honest I have no freaknnn clue whats up, but I dont think the wreath had anything to do with it. I sucked up a steel ash tray, so heavy so solid it shut the motor down, I sucked up a 10/3 guage extension cord which I had to cut out it was wrapped up really bad as well as the green artificial grass carpeting. These toro's can take a licking. LOL But who know's whats up with yours. Keep us posted, Good Luck!

Steve I'm still trying to understand what happening.  When you say it has less power eating into six inches of snow.  Do you mean less wheel drive or less power blowing it...I think it's the wheel power because you said that it blows the snow just as far as before.

Just a shot because you noted having trouble keeping it going straight...perhaps the remote wheel locking mechanism is malfunctioning.  If one wheel isn't fully locking to the axle that will produce less drive and the pulls to the side.  With the grease or oil coming from the wheel it would be worth checking out.

MN_Runner wrote:

No I haven't I wasn't aware I had a seperate box for that. I'll have to see where it is in the manual.

aa335 wrote:

It's a legitimate problem and we are going to get more snow as it is. Probably a lot more now that my Toro is acting up.

trouts2 wrote:

I'll have to really get a good look at it tomorrow and see if I can figure out what's going on. If anything it feels like it slips easier than before. There is no visible wire left inside but I will really get up in the impellar and see if there is anything else jammed up in there.

Hopefully the access plate will come off easily. No question the engine bogs under a lot less load than before. Guess I'll have to pull the wheel apart as well.

The Toro didn't shut off when The wreath was in there it just spun it but it could have bent something which might be the issue. I've been crazy busy and ran out of daylight. I'll take some pics of everything and post them, maybe that will help. Hopefully i won't unscrew teh wrong parts.

stresst wrote:

Yeah they are tough, I'm not sure what's happened to mine it didn't shut off or lose a shear pin but it might have done something inside. The grease leaking out is a bad sign I think.

Paul7 wrote:

It actually bogs down like it's really working to move that small amount of snow and it acts like I'm blowing 20 inches of snoww instead of 6". It pulls left and right much more that it should. I'll have to take it apart a bit and see if something is wrong inside. It feels like a 3HP engine instead of a 10HP engine. It might very well be that wreath did something to the friction plate or the drive mechanism. I'll test it tomorrow and then pull it apart and take pics.

Steve, my 2 cents. I think if at all you have 2 separate problems. The wreath is an auger/impeller issue and as far as I can see has nothing to do with your drive issue.The bogging down issue is something with your auger/impeller not moving as freely as before lending one to assume either something still in there or something wrong with that very area. The traction problem is a drive issue which I believe is its own problem.

Ok the rain and flooding have stopped so I was finally able to get to a few things. I really wiped down the grease on the wheel so it was like new. Then I used it for a while blowing slush. Then I had to clear the stairs for the delivery guys to get into our front door that we don't use and that was a LOT of ice and I mean big huge fricking chunks of ice. The ice was so hard I could see the plastic on the auger return chute buckle from the chunks that hit it. It bogged a little bit but I think it was bad gas if you can call that crap with 10% ethanol, gas!

I put Sta-bil in the blower and in the gas can as well and that seemed to help with the surging so it might have just been some water in the gas. So far no new grease on the wheel, so for now everything looks good. i'll have the dealer check it later but my garage is just too wet to kneel in and take things apart for right now.

Thanks for all the help guys, everything is now back to 100%! Somehow a small branch got inside the unit and was causing problems. It probably came off the wreath. The gas was also an issue and probably had water in it, damn ethanol!

Steve_Cebu wrote:

That's great.  There's a big storm coming your way.  :)

aa335 wrote:

Yeah, but it's all rain.

trouts2 wrote:
trouts2 - Good diagnosis 

Steve - Glad it's back to normal.  The deepest snow we ever got in PA was in mid-March so it's not quite spring yet.

Paul7 wrote:

Hi Paul7, yeah Trouts2 was right on the money and very helpful, everyone was and I really appreciate it.

I'll still have teh dealer go over everything for next year in case I missed something. So far it's warm and everything is melting but we could still get blasted by more snow. Either way it's ok by me.